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Diqns that Jndia is 


Becoming Christ’s 


Department for Young People and 
Education 


AMERICAN BOARD OF :COMMISSIONERS FOR 
FOREIGN MISSIONS 


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Statigns of the CAM underf ine 


DSiqns that Yudia is 
Beeoming Christ's 


BY 
Rev. R.A. HUME, D.D., & 
REv. J. L. BARTON, D.D. 


Department for Young People and Education 


AMERICAN BOARD OF 
COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 


CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 


Signs Chat India Is Becoming Christ’s 
By Rev. R. H. Bume, D.D., Hbmednagar, India 


EARLY one hundred years ago, when the British began to come into 

close contact with the northwest portion of India, called the Punjab, 
all the other Hindu kings and princes of the province, who had tens of thou- 
sands of horsemen and infantry, numerous artillery, and thousands of fanatical 
followers who were ready to die for their ruler and their religion, were inclined 
to despise the British because their forces were few, and they wished to com- 
bine to drive the English back. But the leading Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh, 
secretly visited the British camp, and, noticing the marvelous organization 
ot the small English army, the solidity of the few British soldiers, the mobility 
of their artillery, and the greatly increased capacity which British drill and 
discipline had given to the Indian sepoys, was quickly convinced that the 
British were invincible; and so he concluded a treaty of perpetual friendship 
with them to which he was ever true, though he was habitually faithless with 
Indians. Shown a large map of the province on which were only a few red 
spots, and told that those small spots indicated all that there was of British 
possessions, he instantly replied, “It will all be red.” And before many 
years that prophecy proved true, for the organization and discipline and 
determination of even a handful of British were more than a match for the 
vastly greater numbers and the fanatical zeal of the Sikhs. 

Similarly, multitudes of people fancy that the comparatively small mis- 
sionary army in India can never win the 300,000,000 of that country from 
Hinduism to loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. But they do not know the 
power of the missionary organization in its many branches, the efficiency of 
the Indian Christian co-workers of the missionary, and above all how attract- 
ive the Lord Jesus Christ is to Indians when they come to know him. But 
India is surely 2/7 to be Christian. This paper briefly indicates some signs 
that India is becoming Christian today. 


Statistical Signs 


First, take statistical signs. The government census of rtg901 showed 
that from 1891 to rgo1 the total population of India, covering all religions, 
had increased one and a half per cent; that the Christian population was 
2,664,315, and had increased over thirty per cent, of which the Protestant 
Christian community had increased fifty-one per cent, and the non-Protestant 


% 


4 


Christian community about twenty-one and a half per cent; but the Hindu 
community was actually less than ten years before. In that decade the for- 
eign and Eurasian ordained missionaries had increased more than fourteen 
per cent; the Indian ordained workers had increased about twenty per cent; 
and the total Christian agency had increased about fifty-nine and one-half per 
cent. Now in India, Burma, and Ceylon there are probably about 2,500 
foreign missionaries, of whom nearly one-half are from America, and more 


THE NEW FIRST CHURCH BUILDING AT AHMEDNAGAR :- 


than one-half are women. According to the missionary census of 1900, the 
number of Indian missionary workers in that year was 25,799, and now must 
be a good many more. 

Take some statistics on a smaller scale from some stations of the 
American Board’s Marathi Mission. According to the last government 
census the Christian population of Ahmednagar city, one station of the 
Marathi Mission, had increased 300 per cent between 1891 and 1gor, and 
Over 2,100 persons out of 35,000 in that one city, or six per cent of the total 
populstion, were connected with that mission. Ovt of 1.154 enumerated in 


5 


the government census of rgo1 in the town of Vadala, over 400, that is, over 
thirty-five per cent, were Protestant Christians; and in other towns of the 
Ahmednagar district from ten to twenty-five per cent of the population is 
already Christian. On the roll of the first church of Ahmednagar there are 
over 1,200 names, including communicants, baptized children, and catechu- 
mens. Its Sunday school has over 1,100 members in three sections; its 
Christian Endeavor Society in nine sections has between 500 and 600 
members. 

Another statistical indication of Christian influence in India may be 
expressed thus. Of all pupils studying in colleges and high schools which 
follow a recognized government course, one in ten is studying in a Protestant 
missionary institution. Of all who graduate from a college with a B.A. de- 
gree, one in four appeared in 1900 from a Protestant missionary institution. 
In the lower schools which follow a recognized government course, one in 
twenty boys and one in four girls are studying in a Protestant missionary 
school. Half the boys and young men in boarding schools and _ hostels, and 
practically all the girls and young women in boarding schools, are in institu- 
tions maintained by Protestant missions. 


Spiritual Signs 

But statistical signs are less significant and less important than more 
spiritual signs. Therefore let us consider next from the Indian Christian 
community some indications that the kingdom of Christ is coming in that 
land. A Hindu once said, ‘‘ Hinduism is such a great forest that it matters 
little if a great many branches are lopped off from a good many trees; but 
the serious thing is, that many of these lopped branches are more and more 
used as handles in Christian axheads to cut down the trees themselves from 
which the branches have been cut off.” One of the most encouraging things 
in the situation is, that the Indian Christians are becoming more and more 
able to lead in the Christianization of their own land. Not only are the 
numbers larger, but the moral tone of the churches and of the Christian 
community is growing higher and higher. The churches are more and 
more being served by Indian pastors. Capable Indians are more and more 
coming into leadership in various lines of Christian work. Thus when I 
recently left India, responsibility for a large part of my work was left in the 
hands of Indian Christian leaders. In many places there are Indian Chris- 
tian associations which exercise intelligent leadership in various matters 
affecting their community. The larger part of the Christian community is 
from the lower castes. But they are so generally receiving the advantages of 
education, and are becoming so elevated in many respects, that they often 
equal, and sometimes excel, in their influence on the entire community the 


6 


upper castes, who for generations have depressed those lower castes. God is 
using the things that are not to bring to naught the things that ave. 

In the Madras presidency, the Indian Christian community lately showed 
a higher per cent than any other community of persons who are passing in 
the highest educational standards. Excepting the Parsis, the females of the 
Indian Christian community are more /¢erate than the females of any other 
class. The Indian Christian community in plague-stricken districts usually 
avails itself of sanitary precautions 
which makes it more immune to that 
dreadful disease than the other com- 
munities; ¢g., in a recent plague 
epidemic in Ahmednagar the Indian 
Christian community was nineteen 
times as immune from plague as the 
rest of the community. 

Christian Endeavor Societies, 
Young Men’s Christian Associations, 
and Young Women’s Christian Asso- 
ciations are developing a commend- 
able amount of voluntary unpaid 
Christian work for the non-Christian 
community. The Christian Endeavor 
movement seems likely to be intro- 
duced more and more, and to be an 
exceptionally valuable means of pro- 
moting both the devotional life of 
young people and of quickening and 
directing Christian service among 

THE CATECHIST them, and also of bringing Chris- 

tians of various denominations into 

such fellowship as to show themselves and the non-Christians that Christians 
are united in all great things. x 

In the first plague epidemic of Ahmednagar, the principal English official 
said to the missionary that of the twelve plague superintendents in the twelve 
wards of the city the only two against whom charges of intimidation and 
bribery were not brought were the two Christians, and therefore one of the 
two was soon made and is now sanitary officer of the city, and the other 
would have been given an official post if he had wished to accept it. The 
highest English official of the Ahmednagar district, who is in charge of all 
government building work, recently said to me that the Christian contractors 
of that city are easily the most capable and the most reliable contractors in 


7 


the district, and therefore he had great pleasure in giving them contracts for 
erecting government buildings. 


Non-Gbristian Community 


The non-Christian community affords many indications that India is 
becoming truly Christian. The most intelligent Hindu newspapers advise 
the lower castes to become Christians because they see and rightly say that 
the Christian religion alone is ready to offer them a helping hand, and that 
their hope socially as well as religiously is in accepting the help of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. The government of India so highly appreciates the help of 
missionaries, that every year it gives hundreds of thousands of rupees to 
different classes of missionary institutions, because they are promoting the 
social and moral well-being of the men. Recently the director of public 
instruction in the Bombay presidency, the Honorable Mr. Giles, in opening 
a new building for the industrial school of the Marathi Mission in Ahmed- 
nagar, said that government is looking to the American missionaries of 
Ahmednagar to show what are the most practical and advantageous lines 
for the development of industrial schools. 

Sir Muncherjee Bhownugeree, the Parsi member of Parliament in Eng- 
land, not long since visited Ahmednagar and said, “I believe that you mis- 
sionaries are doing as much for the good of this country as the government.” 
A great deal is now being said in the press about the decline of the Sikh 
religion, and the fear that unless government in some way especially encour- 
ages and supports that religion it will die out. This is a public confession 
that one of the purest forms of Hinduism is manifestly losing ground. A 
short time before his death, Keshab Chunder Sen, the eminent leader of the 
Brahmo-somaj, said to me, “‘ The object of my life is to lead my countrymen 
to Christ.” He did not mean to lead them all to profess Christianity. but 
that he sought to lead his countrymen to reverence the Lord Jesus Christ and 
in a considerable degree to follow his teachings. Without doubt the Brahmo- 
somaj and other theistic movements in that country are having a decidedly 
Christian influence. Not long ago, at the close of a lecture which I gave in 
the mission high school of Ahmednagar, a prominent lawyer rose and said: 
“While I am not baptized and do not expect to be baptized, and while I do 
not accept all that I suppose the missionaries teach, yet I do not hesitate to 
say that I am two-thirds Christian myself. And what is more, a great many 
of you are like me in this, that is, we reverence the Lord Jesus Christ and we 
believe in his teachings, and we know it would be good if everybody took 
his help and became like him.” 

Another indication of the power of Christian truth and life is that many 
organizations are now trying to follow Christian lines of service. For ex- 


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a2 


“Be for 


FAMINE CHILDREN OF AHMEDNAGAR 


Before and after they were taken by the m 


1sslonaries 


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ample, the theistic reforming organizations are opening schools for the lower 
classes; the Mohammedans are sending out more preachers than ever before ; 
the Arya-somaj, which is a reforming movement seeking to improve Hinduism 
on strictly national and Hindu lines, is carrying on its work in imitation of 
Christian missionaries. 

It is common knowledge that those who have an English education and 
who have come under the influence of Christian literature and institutions 
have largely lost faith in Hinduism as it has been understood. The compiler 
of the government census of 1891 said that Indian priests and holy men 
complain that “those who have received an English education have ceased 
to be charitable.” 

Condition of Women 


Perhaps the most significant and encouraging sign that Christ’s kingdom 
is rapidly making headway is in the changing condition of women.  Ex- 
cepting the very small Parsi community, the Christian women are now 
the most literate class in 
India. They are begin- 
ning to make homes such 
as Christian wives and 
mothers and sisters alone 
can make. The _ Bible- 
women are as a class re- 
markably effective. Take 
one recent example of the 
change effected in one 
Hindu woman, whose pic- 
ture is here shown. About 
eight years ago Mr. Nara- 
yan Varnan Tilak, an ex- 
ceptionally capable Brah- 
man, who is also the best 
poet in western India, be- 
came a Christian. Know- 
ing that his wife, Lakslu- 
nibai, would do her utmost 
to prevent his taking such 
a step, he was baptized 
without her knowledge. 
When she came to know 
it she considered him so- 
cially as worse than dead, 
and taking their only son LAKSLUNIBAI 


10 ‘ 


she went to live with her relatives and refused to have anything to do with him. 
For about five years he patiently tried in vain to win her back. Finally she 
reluctantly consented to him on the unchangeable conditions that he was not 
to talk with her about Christianity and not to put the son into a Christian 
school. Even when she came to his house she refused to let him touch her 
food or water. She cooked his food and placed it where he could get it, but 
that was all. However, she could not close her child’s eyes and ears, and 
soon the boy, seeing Christian children play without using bad language, said 


HIGH CASTE WOMEN AT AHMEDNAGAR 


to his mother: “This is the best caste I have ever seen. Its children play 
without using abusive words.” Gradually she began to feel differently amd 
was baptized. Soon she became such a changed woman that she and her 
husband went on voluntary unpaid service as nurses in a plague camp, where 
they cheerfully cared for the sick and dying from the awful plague, men, 
women, and children of the lowest castes, and then mothered and fathered 
the sick orphaned babies of the most despised classes. And, though a quiet 
woman, she has now begun to speak acceptably and effectively to large mixed 
congregations of men and women. She is becoming a power for Christ also 
among her former Hindu relatives with whom she had stayed when she aban- 
doned her husband. The transformation which Christ has made in her is a 
moral miracle. 


Che American Board Missions in India and Ceylon 
By Rev. James LL. Barton, D.D. 


HE American Board has three distinct missions in India and Ceylon. 

While politically these two countries are quite separate from each 
other, as mission countries they are practically one so far as the American 
Board is concerned. American Board work in Ceylon is carried on among 
the same race for which its work in southern India is conducted. In view 
of these facts, the three missions are often spoken of together. 


I. first Mission in India 

The first mission work undertaken by the American. Board was begun 
in India. The first missionaries sent out by the Board were Messrs. Nott, 
Hall, Rice, Judson, and Newell. They landed in Calcutta, but were pre- 
vented by the English East India Company from gaining a foothold there. 
After many vicissitudes, Rev. Gordon Hall and Samuel Nott arrived in Bom- 
bay, February, 1813, and were ordered away by the Bombay government. 
For weeks the question of their stay was uncertain, but finally they were per- 
mitted to land and take up the work to which they had consecrated their 
lives, and to which they were sent out as the first missionaries of the 
American Board. 


IL. Opening of Ceylon 


Jaffna peninsula, Ceylon, was occupied as a mission field first by Messrs. 
Richards, Meigs, and Poor, with their wives, and Mr. Warren in 1816, and 
thus the two oldest missions of the American Board were opened in the 
midst of strenuous opposition on the part of the English officials and repre- 
sentatives of the East India Company. It is reported that in a heated debate 
one of the representatives of the East India Company said he would rather 
have a shipload of devils land in India than a company of missionaries. 

It is an interesting fact that James Richards, one of the young men who 
met in prayer meeting under the haystack at Williamstown, and from which 
prayer meeting the American Board received its first and originating impulse, 
was one of the first missionaries to Ceylon. His grave is now in the mis- 
sion compound at Tillipally, with a large, white stone church on one side, and 
the training school for the preparation of Christian teachers for the Jaffna 


Peninsula on the other. 
Il 


12 


VILLAGE SCHOOL IN CEYLON 


III. The Three Missions 


While the center of the Marathi Mission is at Bombay, it very soon 
began to reach out into the interior. Ahmednagar was one of the first im- 
portant centers opened, which is nearly 200 miles from Bombay and on 
the high lands of the Deccan. The plan of the mission was to push out 
into the interior and reach the masses of people. In this effort station after 
station was opened. Some of these have been abandoned, but now the work 
centers in these various interior stations: Ahmednagar, Satara, Sholapur, 
Sirur, Vadala, and Rahuri. These stations have become the places of resi- 
dence for the missionaries, from which they reach the surrounding districts. 

The same was done in Ceylon. Five or six stations were opened within 
a much smaller area than that covered by the Marathi Mission, and through 
these stations practically all the interior states of the Jaffna Peninsula are 
easily reached for gospel and educational purposes. 

The Madura Mission was an outgrowth from the activity of Ceylon. 
This is located in southern India, and was first approached by missionaries 
from the Ceylon Mission in 1834. Madura City was made the center of the 
operations of these missionaries, and from that center other places were 
occupied, ‘covering an area of from 50 to 1oo miles in every direction. 


LV. Evangelistic Work 


The various lines of work taken up by the missions are practically the 
same. Emphasis was first and has always since been laid upon that depart- 
ment of work which is called evangelistic. This included primarily the 
preaching of the missionaries themselves. But they were very quick to see 


TOOHOS ONIGUVOE (STAID ATTIAOOGOO 


14 


the fruitlessness of an attempt to evangelize India through missionary preach- 
ing alone. Promising natives were soon gathered in schools, and under the 
direct teaching of the missionaries themselves were prepared for aggressive 
evangelistic work. As soon as native churches were well organized, these 
leading native preachers were ordained over them as pastors. Preachers and 
catechists were also engaged, who visited the villages and took prominent part 
in pioneer work. ‘These native workers were multiplied just as rapidly as 
men and women could be trained, for women were also engaged as Bible- 
readers to go from house to house explaining Christianity to the women, and 
doing everything in their power to bring enlightenment into the homes. 
This work is continued, increasing in force and power from year to year. 
Under its impulse there are today in these three missions 114 regularly or- 
ganized churches, with a membership of 13,454. But outside of the regular 
members there is a large number in training, who are under the regular 
Christian catechetical instruction in preparation for baptism as they show 
fitness for it. 


V. Christian Education 


It early became known to the missionaries that intelligent, self-controlling 
Christian churches could not be established without schools. There is no 
general education in India, and none except the highest caste were expected 
to learn to read. As most of those who become Christians come from the 
lower castes (although there are not a few among the very highest who be- 
come converts), it was apparent that schools must be organized to train 
children. ‘These schools were most prosperous in their inception in Ceylon, 
but rapidly throughout the three missions the village school took a prom- 
inent place as fundamental in missionary work. The native Christian 
teacher of the village school was quickly recognized as a leader in the village 
where the school was located, and through these schools the villages are 
reached with Christian instruction, the teacher often being the preacher. 
The best pupils in the village schools were selected and taken to the mission 
station to a boarding school which was under the direction and management 
of the missionary, in the early days the missionary being the leading teacher 
and director in the school. Nearly every mission station in these three mis- 
sions has today its boarding school, in which the pupils receive careful train- 
ing not only in ordinary studies, but in Christianity and Christian living. 
Thus the Indian children are brought under continued Christian influence 
at a time when their character is most formative. From these boarding 
schools the leading Christian workers come. 

There are beside the boarding schools high schools, which prepare 
young men and young women for college. There are two high schools in 


FS 


the Madura Mission, three or four in the Ceylon Mission, and three in the 
Marathi Mission. ‘These schools take as day pupils students who are not 
Christian or connected with Christian households, although the influence of 
the school is decidedly Christian. 

The oldest educational institution of higher learning in Ceylon is Jaffna 
College, which grew out of the Jaffna Mission. It has great influence through 
its graduates, many of whom are leading Christian workers not only in Ceylon 
itself, but in India and the Straits Settlement. Pasumalai, in the Madura 
Mission, is located three miles out of the city of Madura. It has in all of 
its departments about 500 students. While Jaffna College gives the degree 
of B.A., Pasumalai College at present takes one only half way through the 
regular college course. Although these colleges are affiliated with the Indian 
universities and are a part of the Indian system, nearly all of the Christian 
workers receive their training in Pasumalai, including the preachers and 
teachers, not only of the Madura district, but also many other missions. 
The Marathi Mission has no college. 

Each one of the three missions trains its own theological students. The 
theological seminary for the Marathi Mission is at Ahmednagar, and has 
usually from fifteen to thirty students in training for the ministry. The sem- 
inary for the Madura Mission is at Pasumalai, and has about the same num- 
ber of students. The training school in Jaffna is in connection with the 
college. ; 


VI. Medical Service 


Medical work was early begun in the Indian missions. It started first 
with a dispensary to which the poor came and received treatment as they 
needed it. There is little help for the poor in India when in need of medi- 
cine and treatment. This work has grown until at the present time there are 
two large hospitals in Ceylon, one for women and one for men, and another, 
smaller, where both men and women are treated. There are three hospitals 
in the Madura Mission: one a large institution for men, and another for 
women in Madura, and one in Dindigul for men. ‘There is only one hospital 
in the Marathi Mission. It has just been opened at Ahmednagar and is for 
women. ‘This is one of the finest hospitals in India. These various hospi- 
tals and dispensaries treat annually about 100,000 patients. 


VII. Christian Literature 


Missionaries began early to master the Marathi and Tamil languages, 
which are used in its three missions in India and Ceylon. About 40,000,000 
people speak these languages. The Bible was early translated into the ver- 
nacular of the people, and printing presses were started in each one of the 


TVLIGSOH NOISSIN VAUNaGvVn 


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missions to prepare not only a religious but also an educational literature, as 
there was nothing whatever at the beginning in this line. Periodicals were 
early begun and are still published in both the Tamil and the Marathi tongue, 
having wide circulation not only a nong the Christian people, but far outside 
of the Christian circle. A list of the books written and translated by the 
missionaries and published by the missions would fill pages. Many of these 
books are classic among the people, and the literature exerts a wide influence. 


VILL. Teaching the Lndustries 


Industrial work was not begun by the earlier missionaries. Only during 
the last few years has it seemed wise to start industries in connection with mis- 
sions. The need is probably as great in India as in any other country in the 
world, for the people have a low idea of manual labor, regarding it as beneath 
one who has been educated even in part. The pupils also are ready to re- 
ceive all aid that is given them, but are not as ready to render a return in 
manual labor. It has seemed, also, to the missionaries that a stronger Christian 
character can be developed through manual training than in any other way. 
For these and various reasons industrial work has sprung up almost without 
prearrangement in various mission stations. ‘The present industrial school 
at Ahmednagar is one of the largest and most flourishing in India, where 
some 500 boys are receiving industrial training. There is also an important 
school at Sirur; and in all of the places in the Marathi Mission where orphans 
have been received since the late famine, industries are taught, with the result 
that the pupils and orphans earn no small part of their support by the labor 
of their own hands. In the Madura Mission the mission industrial school 
at Manamadura is developing rapidly, and it is hoped that an industrial 
department will be added to Pasumalai College. Agriculture is given some 
prominence in industrial work in both the Indian missions, because through 
agriculture the students and orphans can practically earn their living while 
receiving Christian instruction. 

It should be added here that the government of India and Ceylon makes 
large contributions to the support of industrial work as well as to the support 
of schools conducted by the missions. More than two-thirds of the expense 
of the schools conducted by our missions in these two countries is met by 
contributions from the government. Many other departments of work might 
be mentioned, but we are speaking only of those which are prominent and 
which are found in all three of the missions. 


18 


IX. HA Brilliant Contrast 


THE VILLAGE SCHOOL AT RAHURI IN 1902 


These three missions have 
had an enormous growth in recent 
years. At the beginning progress 
was slow. During the first four 
decades of missionary work but 
little external progress was made. 
The missionaries were mastering 
the language, getting acquainted 
with the people, and _ breaking 
down superstitions and prejudices. 
As an illustration of the progress 
of the work we will give the sta- 
tistics for the last ten years in the 
three missions : 

In 1893 there were 32 or- 
dained missionaries and 49 wives 
and women connected with these 
missions, making 81 in all. There 
are now 31 ordained missionaries, 
and go altogether. 

The native workers ten years 
ago were 1,203. In spite of reduc- 
tions in appropriations this number 
has risen to 1,587. 

Then there were 426 places 
within our three missions where 
regular missionary work was car- 
ried on. There are now 520. 

Ten years ago the average 
congregation upon the Sabbath 
was 14,431. At the present time 
a Sh eed mest hy r 

During the last ten years the. 
number of churches has increased 
from gt to 114, while the number 
of members has increased from 
7,894 to 13,454 almost doubling. 

The Sunday school scholars 
at that time were 11,853, while 
they are now 21,357, an increase 
of over go per cent. 


ON 


Ten years ago there were 20,277 in the schools under the missionaries of 
the Board, while there are today 28,370. 

While India is a country of poverty with the lowest possible wage, a 
country afflicted with famine, plague, and pestilence, yet in the midst of this 
affliction the native contributions for the support of their own Christian and 
educational work and for benevolences have increased from $12,696 ten years 
ago to $16,845 at the present time. This is an average of more than a 


month’s wage of a strong-bodied laborer for every church member in the 
three missions. 


THE VILLAGE SCHOOL AT RAHURI IN 1867 


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Scale of Miles 
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